fin

The 13th NIFF is completed. This is rather mixed for me as it is a relief to have such a huge project completed, and at the same time there are aspects that remain in limbo. I am sad to see all the artists go home – but remember that many of them are rather close by in Northampton or other areas of Massachusetts.  It is refreshing to look at the valley with new eyes.

Thank you to all our volunteers for all your dedication in making the 13th annual Northampton Independent Film Festival possible! Without the community that drives it, NIFF would not exist. I especially want to thank all of the volunteers who showed up the second weekend, when it is hard to use the tickets one receives as a volunteer since the festival close is at hand! I know that I saw a number of you at the Packards closing party – thank you for staying until the end!
Photographs taken by Nate Okun on opening night will be posted on the website soon – stay tuned there for updates regarding next years season!

In terms of the monumental project of the film archive (which has had a number of logistic, but exciting issues come up in terms of housing and legal contracts), Jared Barney and I are hoping to continue  working on it through the next year if the opportunity is available. We will keep you updated! When the time comes to put past festival content into the physical library we will need support in getting all the films and doing the data entry if anyone is interested!

Thank you again to everyone for helping us to have a successful festival. I would not have been able to have such an exciting internship without your commitment!
Have a great year and hope to see you all around the valley and the web. Best Regards…

Second Weekend Kickoff

Honestly, I feel much better about the volunteer staff for this weekend than last weekend. There are a few holes in the schedule, I’ve had a tricky time getting volunteers to sign up for shifts ahead of time. We have such a supportive community for NIFF I know it will pan out okay- it has been said many times, “people have a way of coming out of the woodwork”.  Jared (my co-intern for this season) has been an amazing help, filling in as site manager when needed, sending volunteers to key areas and communicating with filmmakers at the venues.  This last part I have found to be the most intriguing aspect of interacting with NIFF – its been a while since I was able to connect with local artists on a similar wavelength.  The vortex of university life seems to swallow our experiences up in the whole conglomerate most of the time, then something like The Future We Will Create: Inside the World of TED shows up and these messages of empowerment and information access come shooting across so many people like lightening.  If only education felt like this more often.

Second Weekend Anticipation

I’m anxiously awaiting the second weekend of NIFF, but as the week goes on and the volunteer schedule fills in my excitement is growing. The first weekend was a little overwhelming, though I feel now I am starting to get a good grasp on things. Sent out the volunteer schedule and though it is slow to fill I get responses every time I send out an update. Even though there are over 60 volunteers on my list, there are dimensions that I was not accounting for. Some volunteers put in most of their time on the screening committee during the summer and don’t have extra time when the festival hits. Others fall out of the loop, get caught up in projection tasks (another crucial factor to having the festival run smoothly) or have a change of plans. On of the most important things I’ve learned from this internship so far is to have the most flexibility I can – most of the time it will influence events to run smoother. It will be a pleasure to see this festival really come to fruition through the next weekend.

Time flies when it’s all scheduled in.

This weekend was the festival kickoff. Friday night was the opening night gala at the Northampton Center for the Arts hosted by the Valley Advocate. There were media representatives from local TV stations and from the local colleges. It was exciting to adapt to the environment and make sure that all needs were met. Things came up that I had anticipated, and things came up that I had not seen coming. Either way, thanks to many of the people who make this festival happen every year, the event was a great success. I was proud to be a part of it.

We closed up the gala around 8: 00 PM and most attendees headed over to the Academy of Music for the opening night film, The Future We Will Create: Inside the World of TED, about the TED (Technology Entertainment Design) conference which is held yearly in California. Daphne Zuniga (Yes, the Princess in Spaceballs), hosted the film and attended NIFF for a question and answer after the film which was very informative. It must have been exhausting to document the entire conference. All the talks given at TED can be seen online at www.tedfilm.com

On Saturday there were a few gaps in volunteers, but a few people showed up unexpected which worked out well considering. I was totally amazed at how fast the time flew by. We heard from a few filmmakers that they tried to get into Club NIFF and found it closed, so next weekend we are going to try and have it open a lot more. I hope to create a real hub of NIFF, or at least a place where people can meet up that is not the frigid November air.

Hope to see you next weekend!

Pre-festival volunteer turnout encouraging

Tonight’s meeting went well on a number of fronts. During the past week its been difficult to determine exactly how the festival staff would come together knowing we have such little time left. When the meeting hit, I was hoping for some conclusion to how things would actually fall together. Now, I realize that the only way you get anything done is by having some sort of faith that you can actually do it. As Jeffrey says, “An idea is only as good as the energy we put behind it”. As the meeting went on, the donuts were slowly disappearing and the festival shifts were not filling up. So, we broke up into a few groups and had volunteers load up on print material. The majority of shift sign up happened AFTER the meeting, as I was checking in with people personally. This was such a relief, and I think it worked out as I was able to familiarize myself with the volunteer body. It turns out the conclusion that I was looking for came from the volunteers themselves, the blood of the festival that makes it happen every year.

Thank you to everyone who showed up, I look forward to having a great festival with all of you.

The Release of the Schedule

Meeting Reminder! TUESDAY OCT 30th 6PM
This Tuesday October 30th is our final pre-festival volunteer meeting. It will be at 6PM held in the NIFF office at the In Resonance building (this is the same location as our other meetings, directions at www.NIFF.org. We will be filling in the schedule, going over festival procedures as well as providing outlines for site managers.

POSTERS, POSTCARDS & PROGRAMS need to be Distributed

– 2-5 people needed in downtown Northampton to hang up posters on bulletin boards and put postcards in stores.

– Print material also needs to go to: Amherst, South Hadley, Sunderland, Holyoke, Greenfield, Springfield, and Florence; UMass, Amherst College, Mt Holyoke and Hampshire campuses.

– Program guides will need to be put out in shops and local hotels as well. These can be taken with the posters/postcards or done separately.
We have a list of hotels that need a quantity of programs dropped off – will need one person with transportation to do this.
– Need a SMITH STUDENT to put up signs on campus, contact me directly as there are certain flyering procedures for Smith.

If you are available to do some print media distribution, please send me an email ASAP – we need to let the whole area know that NIFF is going on! Posters and postcards are available to pick up at the NIFF office starting tomorrow from 10 am – 5 pm. Call 413-582-1832 and say Hi to Jeffrey or Deb before heading over so we’ll make sure to have a stack ready! Let us know if you need to set up a different pick up time and we will make arrangements.
Thanks everyone – Look forward to hearing from you and seeing you next weekend if not at the meeting!
Abby

[Phase II starts on Tuesday]

Stamps falling off postcards?

Last week NIFF had some great volunteers come in and get our massive postcard mailing ready – unfortunately a large batch of the stamps are not sticking on the glossy postcard. We need people to come in this week and glue stamps to glossy postcards!! Please send a message or feel free to call the NIFF office at 413-582-1832 !